Left photo: Amblyseius cucumerisdevouring
a thrips.
Right photo: the thrips by itself.

These predatory mites are used
to help us control thrips populations in the greenhouse. They
arrive
in a container mixed with bran, a carrier that helps us to sprinkle out
controlled amounts of these tiny predators. Late in the day when
the sun is low in the sky, we release Amblyseius cucumeris by
walking
through the greenhouse, pouring out the mites onto various
thrips-infested
plants. A. cucumeris is better at attacking thrips on
leaves
than in the flowers where they like to feed. Once released, the
mites
procede to scurry around the leaf surfaces, eating as many of the 1st
instar
thrips as they can find. The later developmental stages are too
large
for these mites to eat. Eventually, adults lay eggs among thrips
which hatch into nymphs. These nymphs consume many immature
thrips
during their development into adult mites. A. cucumeris
will
continue to reproduce and control thrips populations as long as there
is
an alternative food source, like pollen, available when thrips
polulations
are low.

Left photo: Out of the little black
parasitized
whiteflies stuck to this paper will hatch adultEncarsia
formosa.Right photo: A Greenhouse whitefly
adult,
up-close.

Encarsia formosa is a
wasp
that we release in our greenhouse to control whiteflies. They
arrive
as wasp pupae inside of parasitized whitefly pupae that are stuck to
these
cards. The adults hatch out once we hang these cards on plants
that
have whitefly problems. When the adult wasps emerge, they seek
out
the 2nd through 4th immature whitefly stages to parasitize. Each
female wasp can parasitze up to 200 immature whiteflies.This parasitic
wasp kills lots of whiteflies in our greenhouse and helps us to keep
the
pest population under control.

Photo: Mealybugs make this waxy mess on the
underside
of leaves, and weaken plants.

Cryptolaemus montrouzieri are ladybug
beetles
that are mostly black in color with dull orange head and thorax.
The adult beetles will dine on mealybugs, preferably young ones, as
well
as other greenhouse pests. Then they lay their eggs in the
cottony-white
egg masses of mealybugs. The young hatch out and feed on young
mealybugs
and eggs while they grow. The immature "crypts" look a lot like
mealybugs
themselves, so scout carefully after releasing this predator in your
greenhouse.